Metal News for June 21, 2011

We post metal news every day, throughout the day, covering thousands of metal bands including underground and unsigned bands. You are currently browsing the news archive, but you can also find news by band.

33 news articles posted on this day.

We've been talking with bands and fans everywhere to get their mosh pit stories. Over the dozens of stories, we've share quite a few tales of stage dives gone wrong, from humorous to painful to weird, and everything in between. This week, Sal Abruscato of A Pale Horse Named Death (ex-Life Of Agony) shares a more serious stage dive story:

Yeah I got a story, it was 1994 and Life Of Agony was playing at L'Amours in Brooklyn. It was a sold out show and was intense. This poor kid under the influence of drugs decided to stage dive head first, he smashed his head on the floor hemorrhaging by the time the ambulance came. Sadly he died later that evening at a very young age. Point of my story is you should not stage dive because it can be your last time.

A Pale Horse Named Death just released their new album, "And Hell Will Follow Me" on June 14th via SPV/Steamhammer.

Waterloo Records has posted a video clip online titled "Record Store Olympics Event 3: The Decipher," in which record store employees try to decipher increasingly incomprehensible metal band names based on their logos. Check out the clip below, and see if you can name all the bands based on their logos.

Wisconsin-based quartet Jungle Rot is dropping a new devastating metal release on the world today, titled "Kill on Command." The long running death metal act signed to Victory Records earlier this year, and is currently lining up new tour dates to bring "Kill on Command" to the legions in a live setting.

Before the album dropped, vocalist Dave Matrise spoke with Metalunderground.com about writing and recording the album, as well as about working on the "Rise Up and Revolt" music video. Below you can find Dave's thoughts on the album's lyrics, what has changed in the music since the last release, and why the band changed direction for this album's artwork. More...

Oakland’s punishing sludge power trio Brainoil is preparing to drop its second full-length, "Death Of This Dry Season," which is set for vinyl/digital worldwide release on August 2nd, 2011 via the 20 Buck Spin label.

The artwork on the LP was handled by Feeding (Jon K from Iron Lung with his partner Nic Schmidt) and includes a mind-bending 24×24 inch poster insert created especially for this release in the instantly recognizable Feeding style.

The "Death Of This Dry Season" track listing is as follows:

1. Death Of This Dry Season2. Gravity Is A Relic3. Opaque Reflections4. Feet Cling To The Rotting Soil5. To Bury The Pages Of Existence6. Crimson Shadows7. The Beauty Of Death

Swedish folk metallers Falconer have premiered their brand new video for "Vid Rosornas Grav" through Metal Hammer Germany. "Vid Rosornas Grav" is taken off the band's new studio album "Armod." The video clip can be viewed at this location.

Comments Falconer guitarist Stefan Weinerhall: "The video for 'Vid Rosornas Grav' is re-enacting a story that took place not far from where we live. It gives you a vision of what position you would have 150 years ago if you were just a common man or serf. It surely doesn't look like a metal video in the beginning but then again, when have Falconer ever been about being as metal as possible. The video is once again produced and directed by www.1897.se that also did the video for 'Carnival of disgust'".

"Armod" features 11 songs completely sung in Swedish and four bonus tracks that are English versions of the band members' favorite new songs. "Armod" was once again recorded at King Diamond guitarist Andy La Rocque's Sonic Train Studios in Varberg, Sweden, during December and January. The track listing is as follows:

Powerworld has issued the following announcement about recruiting Michael Bormann as the band's new vocalist:

"The band played on the last tour with Axel Rudi Pell with Michael Bormann on vocals due to singer Mac's serious health problems. Michael had only six days to prepare himself and because the tour was imminent, he had no opportunity to rehearse with the band.

"The tour went extremely well, and Michael did one good job after another. Every evening he sang Mac's vocals as though they were his own, and rescued the first tour for Powerworld. Subsequently we put all activities on hold to give Mac the time that he needed to make a good recovery. Ilker and Barish played on the tour with Michael Bormann Band during this time.

"Unfortunately, Mac did not recover from his illness, and has left the band by his own request.Now that we know that Michael is one of the best singers in Germany and have also gained a new friend, it was logical to ask him whether he could imagine a future with PW. We proudly present our new singer: Welcome Michael Bormann."

You can also check out a trailer for the band's "Human Parasite" album by heading over to this location.

Volbeat has issued the following announcement about the "16 Dollars" single being released on vinyl:

"Volbeat's 16 Dollars is being released on a 7 inch illustrated vinyl in a very limited edition. In addition to the studio version, the single features a bonus track with live recordings from Forum, Copenhagen. The single is released on July 11 and can be purchased for 5,99 £ from What Records only. Note: only 500 copies worldwide, guys - this item will be highly collectable!"

Volbeat also recently announced a North American headlining tour, with full details available at this location.

Tristania will return to singer Kjetil Nordhus' home town Kristiansand on September 9th to headline the Southern Discomfort Metal Festival together with Norwegian avant garde giants Arcturus. The gig marks the return of Tristania after a very successful show during the early stages of the "Rubicon" tour last year.

The festival has already confirmed lots of known faces for the Norwegian metal crowd. In addition to Tristania and Arcturus, former In The Woods frontman Jan Kenneth Transeth will join up with former Green Carnation members Stein Roger Sordal and Tommy Jackson in Soxpan, members from Carpathian Forest and Communic reunite with Opus Forgotten, black metallers Goatlord will also do their first show in a few years, while the prog metallers in Leprous, also known as the backing musicians for black metal legend Ishahn, will present their own critically acclaimed material.

"Kristiansand was brilliant last time we played there, and we're delighted to do be able to return this autumn. The line-up is very different from many other festivals, and marks the return of a whole lot of bands that haven't played together for a while, and of course Arcturus is a scoop for the festival," singer Kjetil Nordhus says.

Skeletal Spectre has announced its new album "Occult Spawned Premonitions" will see a European release in July through Selfmadegod Records. The label issued the following press release about the album:

"Skeletal Spectre has unleashed their army of fleshless ones, and delivers their 2nd crushing album, 'Occult Spawned Premonitions!' 8 tracks of female fronted, ghastly Swedish Doom/Death Metal influenced by spirits of the undead, graveyard sacrifices at midnight, and other unearthly supernatural horror themes…while haunting the listener with destructive, earth-shattering riffs and demonic/ghostly death-banshee-from-hell vocals that will leave Doom and Death Metal fans cursed for all eternity!

"The European version of 'Occult Spawned Premonitions' includes additional bonus track not to be found on US version and will be released this July via Selfmadegod Records. Get ready for the rebirth of Skeletal Spectre...the hour of your DOOM has arrived!"

You can also listen to a song from the album, titled "Master of the Muck," by heading over to this location.

Springboro, Ohio based metal band Eternal Void has posted a music video online for the song "Four Walls." You can check out the "Four Walls" clip in the player below, or head over to the band's MySpace page to listen to more songs available for streaming.

Black Polaris has issued the following update about recording a new album:

"We're currently recording guitars, going well! We did some video blogs of the drums and guitars, then my iphone committed suicide and unfortunately they were lost! So blame Apple! Our album is going to be called 'Empires' and will be out soon. We will most likely have it ready for the 'rep your threadz' gig at the Camden barfly."

You can check out more information on Black Polaris by heading over to the band's Facebook profile.

Christian metal act Betraying the Martyrs has posted a trailer online for the band's upcoming album "Breathe in Life," which is set for release on September 19th, 2011. You can check out the album trailer in the player below.

Fading Circles has posted a sample of the band's new album "Cyber Whirlwind" online, which can be heard in the player below. The group also commented on the upcoming release:

"The new album of the band is going to be released in July under the Hungarian label Nail Records (Hammer Music). The material contains 8 really live sounding tunes and it is recommended to those who don't like fast-food music. Just dive beyond the surface and the treasure is yours!"

British thrashers Evile recently finished recording their forthcoming new album, "Five Serpent's Teeth," which is due to be released on September 26th. Evile lead guitarist Ol Drake comments on the track listing for the new album:

"Here's the full track list for our new album, Five Serpent's Teeth. There's such diversity through this album that I simply can't wait for people to hear these tracks. We spent a long time in the studio and at home figuring out the best order we could place these tracks in to flow perfectly through the album. The tracks go from the stomping heaviness of 'Cult', to the eeriness/melancholy of 'In Memoriam', to the pure insanity of 'Descent Into Madness'. You may have already hear 'Eternal Empire' at earache.com/fst, and if you were at Download festival last weekend and you came to see us, you heard 'Cult'."

The track listing is as follows:

1. Five Serpent's Teeth2. In Dreams of Terror3. Cult4. Eternal Empire5. Xaraya6. Origin of Oblivion7. Centurion8. In Memoriam9. Descent Into Madness10. Long Live New Flesh

Evile also recently posted the new song "Eternal Empire" online. You can find details on the track at this location.

Guitarist, songwriter and producer: Erik Rutan is an infamous name in the death metal industry. Rutan began his legacy of brutality in 1987 as the guitarist for Ripping Corpse. In 1995, he left Ripping Corpse to join the ranks of legendary Morbid Angel. Although he played with Morbid Angel during the time of their greatest popularity, providing tour support to such monolithic acts as Pantera, Rutan soon longed to focus on his own creations.

Rutan left Morbid Angel around the turn of the century. Although he still accompanied the group on subsequent tours throughout the early part of the ‘00s, now Rutan set his gaze to his band Hate Eternal and producing albums in his Mana Studios. As a producer, Rutan has recorded such vaunted acts as Goatwhore, Cannibal Corpse, Soilent Green, Six Feet Under and Malevolent Creation.

Playing a style similar to Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal has become a standout group in the sordid world of death metal. Rutan’s compositions reveal music that encapsulate violence, speed, technical brilliance and bruising groove. His albums have featured a who’s who of the metal world. Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse), Doug Cerrito (Suffocation), Tim Yeung (Divine Heresy), Derek Roddy (Nile) and Jared Anderson (Morbid Angel) all have immortalized their names on the inserts of Hate Eternal recordings.

“Phoenix Amongst the Ashes” is Hate Eternal’s fifth recording. The group put behind many of the negative factors that marred the last recording “Fury and the Flames,” resulting in what Rutan feels is his most focused effort. While on the first date of a headlining tour featuring Origin, Vital Remains and Abysmal Dawn, Erik Rutan detailed why he feels this lineup and recording are the closest to perfection. More...

U.K. based band Eastern Front has checked in with the following brief announcement about re-recruiting original vocalist Metzger:

"We are very proud to announce the re-instatement of our original vocalist, Metzger, into our ranks. Metzger, who for personal reasons had to leave the band shortly after recording vocals for our debut album 'Blood On Snow' will now be fronting the band on a permanent basis again. Live vocals had been handled by Nagant in this interim period and we thank him for all his support."

You can also check out Eastern Front's music by heading over to the band's MySpace profile.

A re-mixed version of Death's "Suicide Machine," taken from the new re-issue of "Human," has been posted online now via the official Death Facebook page, along with a re-mixed version of "Lack of Comprehension."

This deluxe re-issue of "Human" will see its North American release today, Tuesday June 21st, 2011.

Death's "Human" album has been entirely re-mixed by longtime Death producer Jim Morris and mastered by Alan Douches (Mastodon, Converge, The Misfits). This special 20th anniversary edition of the album will come complete with expanded packaging featuring liner notes from Morris as well as former Death/current Cynic guitarist Paul Masvidal and over an hour of newly unearthed, previously unreleased early demo tracks. "Human" will be available on 2- and 3- disc sets as well as digitally.

Swedish death metal band Blood Mortized has issued the following update from the recording studio:

"So I have recorded all the drums for our upcoming album 'The Key To A Black Heart.' Everything was recorded live in one take... No edits, no time stretching, no samples, just pure death metal the old way!

"Anders and Gustav are now recording guitars and after a short summer break we will move on with recording bass and vocals... As we have told you we now have a new bass player, his first name is Mattias, hmmm, three out of five members have that first name haha... He is well known for playing bass with a legendary Swedish punk out fit called Charta 77. So his last name is... (Google it you lazy bastard haha...)

"Stay tuned for more news concerning the recording.... Don't forget to order the new official Bestial T-shirt from Chaos Records and keep them eyes open for vinyl and CD release of the Bestial EP also that via Chaos Records!"

You can also find the band's last recording update here, or check out the band's new t-shirt design below. More...

Costa Rica based act Sight of Emptiness has uploaded a new music video for the song "Predictable Tragedy," taken from the "Absolution of Humanity" album. You can view the music video in the player below.

Sight of Emptiness was also covered in the Costa Rican edition of Metalunderground.com's "Unearthing the Metal Underground" column, which can be found here.

Brazil's Of The Archaengel has now made its debut release "The Extraphysicallia" available worldwide, which was formerly only launched in Europe and Brazil. A new trailer for the album can be viewed below.

"The Extraphysicallia" features a guest spot by Sakis Tolis of Rotting Christ as well as artwork by Seth Siro Anton.

Abigor has issued the following update about releasing a 2CD set, which includes new material and songs from the 1990s:

"We can finally present you the previews for the next Abigor release on End All Life: Quintessence EAL066 (2xCD, Part I ‘Channelling The Quintessence Of Satan 2011’, Part II ‘The Satanic Tapes 1993-94’)

"Channelling... drew it’s inspiration from Albrecht Dürer’s Knight, Death & Devil copper engraving (1513) as well as Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal movie (1957). Guitars and drums (recorded in 2 days at Hörnix, december 1998) stem from the original stereo roughmix, yet revised lyrics, rearranged original tracks, new bass and, ultimately, new vocal recordings now raze out everything weak that obstructed the essence of the initial work and transforms it to the purest ABIGOR album so far.

"Hence we are proud to present you a truly new opus here which condenses our 19 year history and meets the self imposed standard of sophistication, being the quintessential key to truly satanic art (crushing all amateurish atheistic dark metal around, wrongly calling itself Black Metal).

"The second part of Quintessence consists of the 4 demos in its entirety, most primitively recorded in 1993/94 on 4 tracks. Together with Channelling... The Satanic Tapes testify ABIGOR’s roots and tradition.

"Quintessence Part I (Channelling The Quintessence Of Satan 1998/2011), Quintessence Part II (The Satanic Tapes 1993-94)."

You can also check out previews of the new release by heading over to the official Abigor MySpace page.

As My World Burns has posted a teaser for the new single "The Sound of the Waves," which can be viewed below. The band also commented:

"As My World Burns presents the teaser of what will be their next single 'The Sound of The Waves,' the aftermath of their debut album 'Letters From Alaska' in 2009. The single will be a glimpse of their next album which will be recorded in The Metal Factory Studios by Alex Cappa and mixed and mastered by Erik Monsonis.

"There is no official date for the release of the album, the band has recently abandoned their previous label due to their incompetent work. The final decision about the details of the publication of this new album is still to be made. At the moment the band had uploaded the teaser of its new song which you can watch below. The Sound of The Waves will be available on the 28th June exclusively in the band's Facebook page to listen it and download it for free."

"The Iniquity Descent will release their upcoming EP this autumn. This CD will contain four more songs of the 11 previously recorded songs from 2010. The EP has been titled 'An Empty Temple.' Below is the track list and a short sample of the songs uploaded to the player. Enjoy and see you live at some concert!"

1. An Empty Temple2. Reform Or Succumb3. Reform And Succumb4. The Invisible

Canadian all-female metal act Kittie has posted its cover of Runaways' "Fantasies" online for streaming. The track is to be included on the forthcoming Runaways tribute album "Take It Or Leave It: A Tribute To The Queens Of Noise", which is scheduled for release on June 28 through Main Man Records. You can check out the song in the player below.

Canadian modern metal act Threat Signal has posted the first episode in its new studio documentary series online. The first installment features Threat Signal tracking drums at Planet Z studios in Hadley Massachusetts. You can view the footage in the player below.

U.K. based hardcore act Your Demise has posted a short teaser online to promote its upcoming video for the track "Life of Luxury." The full "Life of Luxury" video is set to premiere on June 24, 2011 and was filmed during band's shows in London, England earlier this year. The band's previous music video, for the track "The Kids We Used To Be," is available for viewing over at this location.

Progressive metal group Tesseract has announced that it will be touring the United Kingdom this September alongside Chimp Spanner and Uneven Structure. You can view the full list of dates, cities and venues below.

Christian deathcore act Sovereign Strength has posted a new song online for streaming. The track, titled "Darkest Sin," is taken off of the group's forthcoming album "The Prophecy." The new full length is set to be released on July 19, 2011 trough Mediaskare Records. You can check out the song in the player provided below.

Sovereign Strength are also set to appear on this year's edition of the "Scream the Prayer" tour. You can check out the full list of dates for the Christian metal themed tour at this location.

Boston hardcore act Blood For Blood has announced that it will be heading overseas this Summer for a handful of concert dates in Europe. You can view the full list of announced dates, cities and venues below. The group will be touring with Billy Graziadei of Biohazard and Craig Silverman of Only Living Witness in place of frontman Rob Lind on certain dates due to "personal reasons."

Suicide Silence has posted another new song online from its forthcoming new album "The Black Crown," which is available for streaming below. The album is set to hit store shelves on July 12th, 2011 with release coming through Century Media Records.

Sumerian Records, known best for playing home to death metal acts The Faceless and Born of Osiris amongst many other metalcore bands, has posted the following statement online defending its recent signing of Israeli dubstep/hip-hop act Borgore following backlash from the online metal community.

"Dear Everybody,

"There's a difference between Sumerian Records the label and Sumerian Metal the movement. We have never set out to be a one dimensional label. When we sign a progressive metal band, you can count on them being fucking awesome. When we sign something out of your comfort zone, we can count on you to pay attention and you can count on us to keep you talking. From Meshuggah to Led Zeppelin, Tool to The Police, The Faceless to Dr. Dre, if we like it then we like it. Our passion knows no boundaries. Now go check out Enfold Darkness and Circle of Contempt as they deserve Sumerian Nation's support. P.S. We just signed The Haarp Machine so we can get away with murder right now."